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JB x LAKE Pajamas arriving April 15th!

Mother’s Day is just a month away, a time to remember and celebrate the special women in our lives. For me, being a mother is the most important job I have. I truly love being a mom to C and never tire of spending time with her, watching her embrace all the newness that life brings, her little giggles and hugs fill my heart like nothing else. This Mother’s Day is extra special because it will be celebrated with four generations of women in my family – my grandmother, mom, sisters, and C. I’ve made a list of gift ideas below I personally have my eye on for these amazing mothers and women in my life.

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On Thursday, Dr. Jill Biden was photographed stepping off a plane at Maryland’s Andrews Air Force Base following a visit to California. For the trip, she wore a blazer, a leather skirt, black boots, and patterned tights. The look flew under the radar until Sunday, when talk on Twitter turned to the First Lady’s choice of stockings. 

Some users called them “trashy,” and the First Lady an “embarrassment” for wearing them. Podcaster Wayne Dupree referred to them as “frightening,” and compared the “fishnets” to Madonna outfits from the ‘80s: “Madonna called and wants her trashy look back, Doc.” In response, supporters of Dr. Biden came to her defense. “Leather & Lace: Dr. Biden said she may be a school teacher, but there’s nothing demure or preppy about her FLOTUS style,” wrote White House correspondent April Ryan. “I’m not mad at her sophisticated sexiness.” 

It’s become commonplace for members of the opposing party to attack women in politics based on their clothing. In October 2020, following the release of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Vanity Fair cover, the congresswoman faced backlash from critics for wearing a $14,000 suit for the shoot (despite the fact that the suit, like most garments worn for magazines, was borrowed). That said, the outrage surrounding Dr. Biden’s most recent travel outfit feels especially far-fetched. Last time we checked, there was nothing wrong with wearing tights. On the contrary, stockings have long been used by women to cover themselves up, especially in professional settings. They’re old-fashioned; some might even say conservative. (Michelle Obama retired hers years ago, calling them “painful” and “inconvenient” on an episode of The View in 2008.) 

Lol Dr. Jill Biden really got them this worked up over patterned tights????

Really??

— Covie (@covie_93) April 5, 2021

Like us, many are also stumped about the attention this outfit choice is getting. Covie on Twitter posed the question: “Lol Dr. Jill Biden really got them this worked up over patterned tights???? Really??” Another named Kathryn put her tights into perspective: “Jill Biden’s fishnet stockings, Barack Obama’s tan suit, Michelle Obama’s sleeveless dress. Yes, these are the biggest scandals in American politics,” in reference to when the Obama family faced unwarranted backlash for their fashion choices during their time in office. 

This weekend’s tight-gate did result in one good thing: Patterned tights are officially back in the spotlight, whether conservatives are ready for their return or not.

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Ashley Roberts wears the cutest leopard print button blouse in a lovely coral-peach hue! What we love about this top is the subtle contrasting texture of the trendy print against the delicate girly color.



Continue reading "The Look for Less: Ashley Roberts' Pink Leopard Blouse and Distressed Denim"

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If you’ve spent as much time scrolling through the dark, foreboding trenches of social media as I have, you may be aware that (gasp!) not everything you’ll read there is totally accurate. And in the age of COVID-19, many of the false claims being disseminated through social media, in forwarded email chains, and even (in an old fashioned, Laura Ingalls twist) by word of mouth, have to do with the virus. There are myths about how it’s contracted, about its symptoms, and, of course, about the COVID-19 vaccines. 

The misinformation isn’t surprising, says Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS, an infectious disease epidemiologist and the science communication lead at The COVID Tracking Project. “Vaccine hesitancy… has been a persistent problem for many years,” she notes. She points to since-retracted 1998 study that falsely linked the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism as one major source of modern anti-vaccine sentiment, though it even existed in colonial times, in response to the smallpox vaccine.

“Many of these myths have been used for decades,” says Glen Nowak, PhD, a director at the University of Georgia’s Center for Health and Risk Communication, who formerly worked in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Immunization Program. “They tend to come from websites and people who are actively working to seed vaccine hesitancy and reluctance. Social media increases the visibility and sharing of those claims.” While the misinformation stems from many different sources, at least some misleading claims seem to be spread by the same websites and people that disseminated election-related falsehoods, The New York Times reports.

We asked Dr. Nowak, Malaty Rivera, and other experts to identify — and debunk — the most common misconceptions they come across. But if you hear a surprising or suspect claim that didn’t make this list, Dr. Nowak suggests asking your doctor if it’s true before believing it.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines aren’t safe because they were developed and tested too quickly.

Fact: Although Operation Warp Speed cut much of the bureaucratic red tape that often holds up proposals for a new vaccine, the process of testing the vaccines through clinical trials was no less rigorous. For example, vaccine makers were authorized to conduct pre-clinical trials (which test the vaccine in animals) and phase one clinical trials (which test the vaccine in humans) at the same time, rather than one after another, to save time, Malaty Rivera notes. But each trial lasted as long and looked at as many subjects as it normally would have. “Every single milestone and objective that needed to be met was,” Malaty Rivera stresses.

The Food and Drug Administration also required that manufacturers monitor trial participants and gather safety data for eight weeks post-vaccination before applying for emergency use approval, to guarantee there were no adverse effects, a supremely cautious move given that most adverse effects crop up within minutes or days of the jab, Malaty Rivera adds. What’s more, researchers have been studying mRNA, the foundation of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, for more than a decade. 

“Honestly, Operation Warped Speed was a terribly named initiative,” Malaty Rivera admits, echoing a sentiment Anthony Fauci, MD, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed this fall. “But I’m grateful it happened, it provided a continuous flow of financial resources to keep the research going.” 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines could give you COVID-19.

Fact: The vaccines that have gotten emergency use authorization in the U.S. don’t contain the virus that causes COVID-19, so they can’t give it to you. You might experience some  side effects, including pain at the site of the injection, headaches, chills, fatigue, and muscle pain, but these are symptoms of your body’s reaction to the vaccine, not the virus. 

Myth: The negative side effects of the vaccines can be fatal. 

Fact: This is a relatively widely circulated falsehood, but there’s no evidence that COVID vaccines cause death, the CDC notes. They are proven to prevent death, though, and to protect those around you. 

One twist on this myth is the claim that COVID-19’s mortality rate is “only” 1%, and therefore not all that dangerous. But “a 1% mortality rate is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu,” the Mayo Clinic points out. “In addition, the mortality rate can vary widely and is influenced by age, sex, and underlying health condition.” The bottom line: The vaccines save lives.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines could alter DNA. 

Fact: This just isn’t true. The misconception may come from the fact that both the Modera and Pfizer vaccines contain messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), genetic material our cells use to “read” proteins. The mRNA in the vaccine helps the body recognize and fight back against a key piece of the virus that causes COVID-19; it doesn’t interact with or have anything to do with your cells’ DNA. The mRNA that’s in the vaccine will be broken down and flushed from your body over time. 

“[Anti-vaccine political groups] are saying mRNA vaccines cause ‘genetically modified humans,’ using the GMO metaphor,” explains Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and the co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development. “That’s clearly not the case.” 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines can cause infertility or miscarriages. 

Fact: No evidence has linked the vaccines to infertility and miscarriages, but fear-mongering misinformation campaigns continue to call the COVID vaccine “female sterilization.” “There is zero science to this claim,” Malaty Rivera says. “This is a myth that is so damaging. It’s made up to incite fear, and is ripped straight from the anti-vax playbook from the HPV vaccine. It’s an unoriginal and unscientific claim.” 

More than 69,000 pregnant people have been vaccinated to date, and early data being tracked by the CDC indicates that vaccines are likely safe and effective during pregnancy. Pregnant people are eligible to get the vaccines in more than 40 states now, and a new study from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed that the vaccines offer strong immunity to people who are pregnant. 

While it’s up to every individual to assess their own risk and comfort levels, Malaty Rivera says that the benefits of the vaccine seem to outweigh the risk of getting COVID-19 for pregnant people — who are more at risk for severe illness if they contract the virus. 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines were developed using fetal tissue. 

Fact: None of the vaccines contain aborted fetal cells or tissue, and no fetal tissue was used in the development or production of the vaccines. The confusion comes from the use of what are called fetal cell lines, which are lab-replicated fetal cells. They are derived from cells taken from elective abortions that took place decades ago, which have multiplied into new cells over the course of decades. 

Fetal cell lines offer a way to test treatments on human cells, and are often used medically. They’ve been used, for example, to test treatments for conditions like Parkinson’s. Pfizer and Moderna used fetal cell lines in their vaccine testing, and Johnson & Johnson used them in development and production. But the vaccines themselves contain no fetal cells.

Even the Vatican has said that it’s okay for Catholics to get all three vaccines. The Church has hinted that Catholics should try to get a vaccine other than the J&J one if possible, but ultimately says that Catholics have a moral duty to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus by being vaccinated. “If someone wants to morally object to an abortion that happened 50 years ago, that’s one thing,” Malaty Rivera says. “But to prevent life-saving therapies and treatments for people because of one event seems actually morally more reprehensible to me.”  

Myth: You don’t need a vaccine if you’ve already had COVID-19 and recovered. 

Fact: You should get one of the vaccines whether or not you’ve already contracted the virus. Although coming down with COVID appears to give you some immunity to the virus, we still don’t know how long that immunity will last, how powerful it is, and how much it will protect you from other COVID-19 variants, Saskia V. Popescu, PhD, an infectious disease epidemiologist and assistant professor at George Mason University, previously told Refinery29.

The CDC gives two exceptions: If you’re currently COVID positive, you should wait to receive a vaccine until after you’ve quarantined and have recovered; and if you were treated for the virus with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you should wait for 90 days post-treatment to get your jab. 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines are injected with a bar code or microchip to keep track of people.

Fact: Although this would make a great sci-fi movie, it’s not true. This bizarre claim originated in a widely distributed Facebook video that contains manipulated footage of Bill and Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, and calls out a company called ApiJect, which in November received a $590 million loan to produce injectors for the vaccines.

ApiJect does offer optional “Radio Frequency Identification chip” technology. These chips are meant to go on a syringe’s label and confirm that a vaccine is authentic, unexpired, and unused, Steve Hofman, an ApiJect spokesperson, told Reuters. They would never be injected into a human. Plus, as of December, no COVID vaccines being used in the U.S. actually opted in to using the chip technology. (ApiJect has not yet responded to Refinery29’s request for comment.)

Myth: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine isn’t as effective as the other two vaccines. 

Fact: Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has been shown to be 66% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 globally, and 72% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 in the U.S. This efficacy rate was technically lower than Moderna’s and Pfizer’s (both are above 90%). But J&J’s vaccine was shown in the trial to have 100% efficacy against hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after vaccination, and that’s the more important figure. 

“People see the numbers in the headlines, but they miss the nuance,” says Bruce Gellin, MD, MPH, the president of Global Immunization at Sabin Vaccine Institute. The three vaccines being used in the U.S. right now can’t be compared directly, since the trials were conducted at different times, in different parts of the world, and with different COVID-19 variants in play. (For more background info, check out Vox’s comprehensive explainer.) All we need to know is that they were all deemed protective enough to be approved by the FDA, and that they’re all great at keeping us alive. With that perspective, you can’t go wrong — except by not getting vaccinated at all. 

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Kerry Washington made a splash at last night’s SAG Awards — literally. For the virtual show, the actress went for a glamorous mermaid-inspired look, wearing a sequined blue Etro gown with a custom beaded swimming-cap headpiece. In true mermaid fashion, Washington waded into her pool to get the shot — and her glam team even took the marine theme one step further, giving the star an ornate, crystalline blue manicure.

Designed by celebrity nail artist Kim Truong, the nail art is a creative reinterpretation of the “deep French” trend that’s been everywhere the past year. To complement the jewel tones in Washington’s gown and headpiece, Truong used an array of OPI nail polishes, adding beads and blue rhinestones to give the manicure an embellished edge.

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To begin, Truong applied a strong base coat to Washington’s nails before getting to work creating the asymmetrical bedazzled manicure. For the base, she applied OPI Gel Color polish in the shade Passion, a warm-toned pale pink, to just two fingernails, and painted the remaining nails with the shade Tile Art to Warm Your Heart, a vibrant blue.

For the finer details, Truong used a thin liner brush dipped in the blue shade and created a colored French tip on the pink nails. Then came the crystals: She placed a single blue rhinestone at the base of the French manicure-painted nails and then let her creativity run wild on the other nails, freehand painting swirled, dotted designs on each individual nail bed. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Truong finished off the manicure with a clear, shiny top coat in order to seal on the crystals and edges. The look had to be completely waterproof, after all.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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Almost five months after losing re-election for president of the United States, former President Donald Trump is once again the subject of controversy after new reports say that his campaign purposely tricked donors into giving recurring donations.

On Monday, a New York Times report revealed that the Trump campaign set up their 2020 donation page to take recurring payments out of donors’ bank accounts, often without their knowledge. First-time contributors who attempted to make a donation to the Trump campaign reported having thousands of dollars extracted from their accounts on a daily and weekly basis. The page, which was set up and hosted by WinRed — the Republican Party’s donation platform — funded millions of dollars for Trump’s presidential campaign by bombarding the site with confusing fine-print details and text. But by November and December, team Trump had refunded donors a staggering $122 million.

In the months since the alleged scam, several campaign donors described having to call their banks and numerous credit card companies to report what they believed was fraud. In reality, they just didn’t read the very fine, purposefully hidden print. One donor, a cancer patient from Kansas City, Missouri living on less than $1000 a month, had his entire bank account drained as a result of the multiple donations. Another retiree had almost $8,000 taken out of his savings.

So, how exactly did the president manage to make millions off of his unwitting donors? Trump’s underhanded attempt at raising millions fast first began in March 2020 when the form to donate to Trump’s campaign included a pre-checked box to make all donations a monthly charge. To avoid that charge, users had to uncheck the box manually. Months later, in June, a second pre-checked box was added just below the first one for the purpose of breaking a “fundraising record on President Trump’s birthday!” Despite Trump’s birthday coming and going on June 14, both boxes became “a fixture for the rest of the campaign.”

In September, as the presidential campaign ramped up and President Joe Biden campaign began to earn well over $150 million more than what Trump’s campaign had raised, The Times reports that Trump not only changed the language of the pre-checked recurring donation boxes on the site from “monthly” to “weekly,” but they also bolded words and phrases and put them in all caps to overwhelm the eye.

Harry Brignull, a user-experience designer in London who spoke with The Times, described the “deceptive design” of the donation page — called a dark pattern in the marketing world — as one that “should be in textbooks of what you shouldn’t do.”

After losing to President Joe Biden in November, Trump’s campaign spent the next two months returning donations back to donors. He ended up giving back 10.7% of what he earned through WinRed, compared to Biden’s 2.2% of funds earned through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s donation platform. The amount of refunds Trump issued during this time, according to political experts, outpaced “every federal Democratic candidate and committee in the country combined.”

The reported scam also revealed that the ten of millions earned by the Trump campaign’s failed attempts that fighting nonexistent voter fraud were used “to help cover the refunds he owed.”

In the classic Trump fashion of brushing serious issues off, Trump spokesperson Jason Miller deflected from the negative reports of fraud in The Times report. Instead, he harped on how small the number of credit card fraud complaints had been: 0.87% of the WinRed transactions.

“The fact we had a dispute rate of less than 1 percent of total donations despite raising more grass-roots money than any campaign in history is remarkable,” he said, ignoring that that still equates to $19.7 million. He also said that “our campaign was built by the hardworking men and women of America” and that “cherishing their investments was paramount to anything else we did.”

Trump’s former campaign team has yet to make an official statement on the report.

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